Hey Scott,
Your recent raw post got me thinking:
1) Who would Bret face at Survivor Series and Wrestlemania if crazy Mr Backlund never got over the way he did?
2) Who would Diesel have beaten for the title at MSG?
Thanks!
Your recent raw post got me thinking:
1) Who would Bret face at Survivor Series and Wrestlemania if crazy Mr Backlund never got over the way he did?
2) Who would Diesel have beaten for the title at MSG?
Thanks!
Really, it wouldn't have mattered. Bret was out, and Diesel was going to be the next big thing no matter what. Although I think Nash talks about it like it was some spur of the moment decision from Vince. If I had to guess I'd say you could just stick Owen or (god forbid) Neidhart in that role of 3-day champion, but really it didn't matter.
I think WWF/Vince knew Diesel was their guy from his Royal Rumble performance, but I imagine Diesel's title win at MSG was a spur of the moment type deal as I can't imagine them planning that far ahead just to change the title at a houseshow. I think the original plan was probably for Diesel to win the title at WM.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to even think of a world where Mr. Backlund bombed and didn't continue on. One of my favorite gimmicks and runs ever. I still have my original copy of that SuperStars match on VHS and it is amazing it still works considering how many times I watched it.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, just remembered that Backlund was never intended to get over with the gimmick. If the rumors were true, the whole angle was meant to reintroduce Papa Shango again so I imagine he take's Backlund's spot if Backlund didn't get over.
ReplyDeleteYup it's one of those hidden gems. If I'm not mistaken doesn't Jim Ross call the match too? I remember it seeming NWA '89-ish in how it was sold as a pure athletic contest to see who the better wrestler was.
ReplyDeleteIt's weird because, the evidence is there that the Royal Rumble performance / crowd reaction makes Vince see dollar signs for Diesel. But if that's the case, they sure as fuck didn't do much with their "next big guy" when it came to their big show that year post-Rumble, Wrestlemania X.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame Bret never went on to become a booker after he retired because I imagine we would have seen a lot more straight up athletic contests.
ReplyDeleteThey already had a lot in place for that show. What would you do with Diesel? Stick him in that 10-man that got cut anyway?
ReplyDeleteYep, was JR since Vince was in court.
ReplyDeleteI think after the RR they saw him as a strong mid-card, IC title level guy. I don't think it was until after KOTR that they saw him as a top level draw. Him hanging with Bret and then getting super over into Summerslam sealed it, I would say.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Luger joins the corporation and gets the belt from Bret, then does the job in MSG.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a wise decision. Anytime WWE plans to push someone to the next level, we rarely see it leading up to WM. The rocket push normally occurs post WM.
ReplyDeleteI really for get my hands on a copy of that match. It's on the best finishers DVD, right?
ReplyDeleteyes sir.
ReplyDeleteThey handled Diesel perfectly and slowly built him up in just the right way. Big showing at the Rumble, followed by the IC Title win, tag relationship with Shawn leading right to the break-up.
ReplyDeleteI would be amazed if the MSG switch was "spur of the moment." It was calculated, to give a similar feel to Hogan beating the Iron Shiek, just with a faster timeline. Backlund beats Bret at the Survivor Series and transitions the title over to Diesel at MSG.
I agree with Scott. If Backlund didn't get over, the SurSer match would have been with Owen, who would have gotten the belt for the transitional reign.
they dropped the ball on Backlund so bad ... that crazy old man gimmick was SO great and got SO over. The WWF was pushing the New GEneration and it was a built in storyline to have a crazy old codger from pre-Hulkamania days holding the title and ripping people's shoulders out. He should have gotten a run to 'Mania so you could properly build Diesel because he went from lackey to champion to quick to be believed. Have Backlund and Owen wrestle at RR as payoff for Owen helping Backlund win the tilte - a great heel vs. heel match. You can have either Shawn or Diesel win the title RUmble and either one of them fight Backlund. Hell, you could still do Backlund/Shawn, have Backlund win and do the qucik drop the next day. So many options with him.
ReplyDeleteIf I could book WWF from WMX, that's the route I would have taken too. Have a Luger-Bret babyface match where Luger chokes again and then turns heel and have him finally win the title at Survivor Series, but I would have continued running shows with Luger on top until Diesel beats him for the title at WM.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have done a DiBiase/Luger pairing though, just because DiBiase has a awful track record when managing guys and Luger's good enough where he could get over on his own as a heel.
Speaking of this time in WWE history, I seem to be in the minority, but the Royal Rumble '95 match is my favourite Bret / Diesel match. It has such a huuuuuge, big-fight feel to it, with McMahon and Lawler giving insights and predictions before the bout starts, and with Jerry Lawler dropping his Bret silliness and actually doing a great job for most of the match. Give that match a finish and it's *****, but the (repeated) bad finish knocks it to about ****1/2 for me.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, never notced the exact similarities between Diesel/Hogan's title win before
ReplyDeleteshould have NEVER gotten rid of the Narcassist gimmick ... he could have had Yoko's run in 93-94 with that while keeping Bret on top. It was so awesome.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's so weird at some of theshows post Wrestlemania X that they're hurting for star power, have a star right there in Lex Luger, and don't even use him. A "did he sell out" midcard angle for Summerslam? Not even qualifying for KotR '94? Ouch.
ReplyDeleteShawn didn't have main event credibility at the time, and while Owen-Backlund would have been interesting I think a Bret/Backlund rematch would have been most likely where Bret fails to win the title and have Diesel be the one to end his reign at WM.
ReplyDeleteYep, Crush could have gotten the Luger push by slamming Yoko that summer of 1993.
ReplyDeleteNash has mentioned in shoot interviews that Vince called him about being world champ several months ahead of time (he was in Europe at the time, and thought he was getting fired when he got the call)
ReplyDeleteExactly. Even if they didn't want to push Luger as a main event again, they could have easily inserted him into the KOTR quarter finals and the big story would have been "THIS is going to be Luger's night where he earns his #1 contendership back" and have him choke again where he fights to a 15 minute time limit draw.
ReplyDeleteYuck, maybe not Luger, but not Crush either.
ReplyDeleteCrush was over and cool.
ReplyDeleteHe lost to Doink at WrestleMania. Either do the bodyslam with Luger or don't do it at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you are too far off. It is really damn good. Diesel's reign was pretty awesome right up until Michaels made him look like a goof halfway through the Mania match.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, this is my favorite Diesel match period. I know a lot of people prefer Diesel/Shawn from IYH 7 but the Rumble match is my personal favorite just because Bret worked the match to look realistic as possible.
ReplyDeleteWhen's Summerslam 2002 pod going up? One of my favorite shows.
ReplyDeleteCrush did lose quite a lot in 1993. (to Doink, to HBK, to Yoko...) He was still super over though. Made a much better face than he did a heel.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, DiBiase's track record wasn't shit yet in the fall of 1994, so it could have worked.
ReplyDeleteAnd then getting paired with nothing but lugs until he dropped the belt to Bret.
ReplyDeleteExactly, Crush lost a lot of high profile match in 93, but he STILL remained over, so you can imagine how over the guy would have gotten if he was booked competently.
ReplyDeleteThis coming Monday... had to take last night off. Tomorrow is our next 1993 Raw live watch.
ReplyDeleteYep, that wrecked his momentum.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Backlund looked even older than he really was (if wikipedia doesn't lie, he was in 1994 as old as Triple H is today - just plain crazy!!!) and I was never a fan. He had the charisma of a toast bread and did never fit in that time.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I know you could argue that DiBiase hadn't had the loser stench at this point, but I just don't think DiBiase was ever cut out to be a great manager. Hell, earlier on he managed Andre when Andre still had a fair bit of main event credibility and DiBiase still screwed that up and Andre was soon turned into a loser.
ReplyDeleteIn hindsight, I would love to have seen a transitional Owen run. His title celebration alone would have been epic.
ReplyDeleteI think what hurt Diesel was the fact he beat a lot of would be challengers inside one month that could have easily been pushed in a potential main event feud at a later date.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, in February he beat Backlund, Owen and IC champion Jarrett. All those guys could have easily headlined a B-PPV with Diesel and not have it suck so bad.
Nash in one his shoots talks about knowing a few months in advance, and keeping it a secret from Shawn.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it probably was doomed to fail, but my point was he didn't have that stank on him quite yet so it wouldn't have initially looked like a bad pairing.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Even a face/face showdown with Razor Ramon could have been pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI still think if they were deadset on putting a fat monster in with him at SS, Yoko would have been a better, and more credible, choice too.
If they wanted to push a monster heel to the top, I think Kama would have been the perfect choice. Sure Yoko had a little more credibility, but the guy didn't care at that point. I'd even argue that pushing Mabel over Yoko was a good decision just because Mabel actually worked hard during that period.
ReplyDeleteI just think Mabel was more of a longterm project. Yoko at least was a former Champion that could have been a threat. Nobody gave Mabel a chance at SummerSlam at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lot of people fail to realise was that Mabel was booked *really* well leading up to Summerslam and he never looked bad and if WWF gave any other heel that same push they would have gotten over with it.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, he was protected well and they did it right... problem was he had been essentially a comedy mid card act for two years and still looked goofy in his baggy purple pants and was named Mabel.
ReplyDeletewell maybe it wouldnt have been cut then because everybody would agree that Diesel is the captain.
ReplyDeletebut he wasn't cocky or bad.
ReplyDeleteAnd he just sucked. Why not Sid?
ReplyDeleteHere's my question: was Backlund the plan all along? In Scott's recent Raw review he mentions Vince talking all over the Lawler/Backlund segment, which we now know is the universal sign of Vince not liking for something. Nonetheless, he still moved forward with the angle once it became clear that the crazy old man stuff was getting over.
ReplyDeleteI just find it fascinating that Backlund got over with the fans in 1994 and Vince was willing to give him a high-profile main event PPV angle despite clearly not fitting in with the new direction of the company. Fast forward twenty years and Vince doesn't listen to the fans anymore to push guys like Bryan until the "Yes" thing gains a foothold in the mainstream (because face it, Bryan would've been stuck in the "Daniel Wyatt" angle if Vince got his way).
A guy like Ziggler, who the fans love, will be jobbed out because he's got a shit spot on the roster and complains about it while guys the fans are generally tired of like Big Show, Kane, and Bluetista are pushed.
You mean why not him for Summerslam? Because he got 2 PPV title shots right before that.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that WWF didn't capitalise on was that after Summerslam 95 Mabel did have some upper midcarder credibility. I'm not saying they should have continued with the push, but they should have protected him until WWF found a new guy to give the rocket push to (like Shawn) so when Shawn beats him, he gets that instant credibility.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same thing with JBL. He was pushed as champion for a year, fans hated it, but as soon he lost the title he was pretty much turned into jobber shortly afterwards where they could of used JBL's rub (as little as it may be) to make someone else into a star.
Definitely Owen in that spot of necessary.
ReplyDeleteI still, to this day, dont get the Diesel push. I liked Nash as a heel and think he may have been a good heel champ but face Diesel sucked hard.
Mabel feuding with Taker after SummerSlam so he was still pushed as a top heel. Then he fucked Taker up and that was the end of that.
ReplyDeleteThey should have made Diesel a tweener face at least like at the end of '95. That's the problem when WWE gives babyfaces the rocket push. They completely alter their character that made them popular in the first place. I'm shocked Austin still managed to keep most of his characteristics when he turned face.
ReplyDeleteVince big guys, and Diesel was popular at the time especially as a badass heel. Just not popular enough as a bayface to carry the company for a year, and he wasn't more popular than Bret Hart was in hindsight.
ReplyDeleteThey booked him like he was a big cuddly teddy bear. It is amazing that he drew anything at all.
ReplyDeleteYou mean like making Bryan going from fighting underdog into Zack Ryder 2.0 in the Kane feud?
ReplyDeleteIn Bret's book he said he heard he'd be dropping the title to Backlund in August/September, I can't remember if their first match was to set that up or if it was decided based on their first match, though.
ReplyDeleteProbably a good thing. Shawn may have quit and never come back.
ReplyDeleteI was 12 years old, and that match was shortly after the Bret/Kid match on RAW, if I remember correctly. I thought it was going to be another respectful, hard fought match (which it was), and then instead of a handshake, Bob Backlund, purest, nicest babyface ever, slapped Bret, and I freaked out. It's still one of my most shocking moments as a fan.
ReplyDeleteHe's nothing like Ryder.
ReplyDeleteIt felt like once he didn't work out as the next Hogan, Vince couldn't have cared less about him. Vince probably blamed the failure on something Lex did and not that the rest of the world doesn't fantasize about muscular men in American underwear saving the day like he does.
ReplyDeleteCrush was really over for a while there, he was definitely a favourite with me and my 10 year old friends at the time.
ReplyDeleteHis heel turn is so underrated.
ReplyDeleteThe correct answer you are looking for is Scott Steiner.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly surprised Owen never got a brief run with the title. You'd think Bret would be open to that idea.
ReplyDeletePoor Papa Shango was supposed to come back twice and it was changed both times.
ReplyDeleteYup, the Backlund match was July 30, so a few weeks after the Kid match. It definitely seemed like it was part of the Hart Fighting Champion cannon heading in. They hyped it for a couple weeks too, with footage of Backlund training for what could be his last shot at glory.
ReplyDeleteActually if it was Backlund I'm very sure it would have been Owen, he was the only logical person to lose to that point, I mean he did influence in Bret losing the strap anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhile he didn't choke in his big opportunity, they otherwise made the same mistakes they did with Luger: take a heel with some bite to him and turn him into a smily, happy babyface. It was inexplicable. We were PAST the alternative-grunge scene at this point, so the happy-go-lucky babyface was even more "out" than it was during Lex's push. Not saying they needed to come out in dirty hair and flannel but SOME edge would have been appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThat is seriously one of the worst names in wrestling history. Maybe *the* worst. It's like they went with that because they decided against Agatha, Prudence, or Millicent.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who thinks that Backlund would not get over clearly ATE marijuana.
ReplyDeleteI still wish Backlund had been allowed to do this gimmick in 1984. He wrestles Hogan in a match similar to their classic matches in 1980 - except Hogan gets the pin and Backlund turns heel and goes crazy ten years earlier. They get to do a series of shows and Bob still leaves afterwards - but has a track record of being able to play a crazy heel in the indies.
ReplyDeleteOf course Bryan is nothing like Ryder. Bryan can wrestle and he is over.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the parallels between the Zack Ryder vs. Monster Kane angle and the Daniel Bryan vs. Monster Kane angle are sadly similar:
http://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/induction-zack-ryder-vs-kane-friday-the-13th-part-z/
True, Zach married his love interest, and beat Kane clean several times, while holding the world title.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way they could have ever conceived of such a thing in 1984. It may have caused riots.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read the book in a while, but I thought the timeline was more ambiguous. Bret mentions that he was going to lose to Backlund and thought it was a rib, until he got to work with him and realized he could still go.
ReplyDeleteThere is a major different between "the angles have parallels" and "the angles are exactly the same", you know.
ReplyDeleteIt is what you implied if, you read between the lines.
ReplyDeleteScott Hall could have been an option.
ReplyDeleteMaybe his "demons" had started to become too big at that point.
ReplyDeleteFor a quick switch? I think he could have managed.
ReplyDeleteOkay then. In the future I will phrase things like:
ReplyDeleteBatista quitting last night on Raw was similar to when Batista quit WWE in May 2010 but not exactly the same for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the involvement of Bret Hart, the amount Batista looked like a douchebag, and the amount of hair on Batista's head,
AH yeah, fair enough. I thought you were replying to having someone else get the Diesel push.
ReplyDeleteIn germany the IYH events weren'd aired until 1997 or so, and nobody here saw these matches. ;)
ReplyDeleteSomeone else mentioned this in a thread but wasn't the original plan to make Papa Shango the one behind Backlund going nuts? So I'd assume then that the plan was to make Bret vs. Shango the main event of Survivor Series, probably with Shango winning then losing to Diesel.
ReplyDeleteOR...there's no reason to assume that there HAD to be a weeklong reign and 8 second MSG match in any of this. They could have done a Hart family Survivor Series match and then had "fighting champion" Bret Hart lose an actual match to Diesel at MSG.
I agree. It wasn't the right era for crazy Backlund. Babyface Hogan squashing foreign menaces and big fat guys was the way to go. I'll criticize Vince left and right, but I honestly don't know how he could've gotten even more money out of Hogan's first reign except perhaps a better opponent at WrestleMania 2.
ReplyDeleteBret was pretty popular... Maybe they were afraid there would be backlash against diesel if he beat Bret?
ReplyDeleteA better opponent at WM2 is like the white whale. I agree it was needed, but I can't imagine who. Unless they sped up the Orndorff heel turn, or finally did a one-on-one Hogan-Piper match (the boxing match really wasn't necessary with T), there's nothing else to go with there.
ReplyDeleteYah great point. Him destroying the guy that ended Bret's run made more sense.
ReplyDeleteI imagine that once Bret lost the belt to Backlund, Papa Shango becomes his house show feud.
ReplyDeleteThere was NO expectation for him to get over before the crazy old man gimmick came up. He was boring the shit out of everybody.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can't personally think of one either. Fantasy booker me would've loved to see them bring in Bruiser Brody for the match, but that would require an entire reshuffling of the playing field for the months previous.
ReplyDeleteI know there were rumors he was trying to get Nikita Koloff around that time. THAT match probably could have been huge for WM2. Brody would have been interesting, too.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, Nikita Koloff too! Mania 2 could essentially copy Rocky 4 then. I'd love to see the vignettes of Hogan training in the snow.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been pretty bad ass. Well, I wasn't alive yet, but I think it would have been much cooler to go back and watch.
ReplyDeleteThe amazing thing is considering his conditioning, Backlund could probably still go today. At least more so than any other 60-something Legend.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. It came out of nowhere and for a little kid like me, legitimately frightening.
ReplyDeleteBack then, they didn't really swap the title around too much. When Backlund won and dropped it three days later, it was a legit shocker whereas if it happened today, fans would probably just shrug.
ReplyDeleteYeah. When Bret beat Diesel at Survivor Series, it felt like Bret got his deserved title back.
ReplyDeleteWell Bryan was actually competent in fixing his car so that gives him a one up on Zack.
ReplyDeleteA bazillion upvotes for this.
ReplyDeleteYou got that right. Look at how he bragged about his Slammys!
ReplyDeleteZiggler is his own worst enemy though. Did Punk bitch about management when he had beefs with them in the mid 2000's? No, he kept it private and ended up getting several huge pushes and made millions.
ReplyDeleteAnd Batista has been jobbed out since he came back despite being one of the most over heels.
Don't forget Doris!
ReplyDeleteDude he tried to do that with HBK, which may be worse than Lex and Diesel. Vince just didn't get it until Austin forced him to get it.
ReplyDeleteCrazy old man Backlund would get over now. In fact, I demand a Backlund - Santino feud for a couple of PPVs.
ReplyDeleteBacklund's crazy old man gimmick was gold. He doesn't get enough credit for making it absolutely work.
ReplyDeleteThe Diesel vs. Sid matches were horrendous, Michael.
ReplyDeleteA tag team of "Doris and Fritz" would be a clever little inside joke meaning...something.
ReplyDeleteI loved Kona Crush!
ReplyDeleteY'know, I don't even like Michaels, but they at least kept his character true to form when they turned him babyface. He was the same HBK, just doing his shtick to heels now. THAT'S what they needed to do with Lex and Diesel, and what they did with Austin. Just tweak them a bit.
ReplyDeleteBut...Vince followed that triumph up with something even worse than before: fawning over Michaels like he's a male stripper and make it impossible for most guys to support him.
He made HBK a smiling babyface champ in the same vein as the previous guys. HBK didn't get to be himself until DX.
ReplyDeleteDid he tell him a lie?
ReplyDeleteI don't think he would have been that effective during the Attitude Era as he didn't like a lot of the adult stuff going on. But he could have definitely helped in this Cena era.
ReplyDeleteThere's still hope!
ReplyDeleteEh, not really. He made the character work, and good for him, but as said below me, before that, he was boring fans to tears.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Had Owen lived and continued to wrestle, I imagine he would have gotten a run with the belt, considering guys like Benoit, Jericho, and Guerrero all got runs with the belt.
ReplyDeleteI will always, always be sad we didn't find out what Sports Education was.
ReplyDeleteNa, once Vince made the decision to go with Nash, nothing sort of injuries or drug problems was going to derail that push. To be fair, though, I always thought Nash did a good job with the run, despite the horrible business at the time.
ReplyDeleteTell me a lie...and say that you won't gooooooooo...
ReplyDeleteEh, they at least let him keep being a snarky kind of guy toward the heels and a big show off, but they did have him start celebrating his matches by bringing little girls in the ring to dance with him while Vince screamed how wonderful it was that HBK was "kickin' it with his Kliq!"
ReplyDeleteI had never heard that. That's pretty awesome. I wonder if Vince told Nash to keep it quite, out of fear that HBK would try to plant a seed in Nash's ear? The thing is, though, that Shawn seemed to be very content to stay in the background until Nash's monster push started.
ReplyDelete"or (god forbid) Neidhart"
ReplyDeletewho?
I agree Ziggler's mouth is his own worst enemy. But there's something funny about a multi-million dollar company that would rather try to embarrass an employee that could potentially be a huge success as much as possible instead of sitting him down and ironing out his mouthy issues. Leaving money on the table, as it is said around here.
ReplyDeleteYes, Batista has been jobbed out since his return. However, that wasn't exactly the original plan. WWE sure as hell wasn't planning on him being so poorly received as a face.
At the time I didn't, of course, I was only 10, but looking back, I can definitely see the value of a New Generation being ruled by an insane relic of the past who, despite being bonkers, is still the best technical wrestler in the company. Whoever finally freed the New Generation from the tyrannical reign of Mr. Backlund would've been all set up.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Michaels was my favourite even when he was a heel and I was a mark because he seemed cool to me. He was this cool, cocky guy who thought he was the best looking thing in the world - the problem is when he turned face Vince would be on commentary shilling him as if he was the best looking thing in the world and it was kind of weird. I don't understand why 12 year old boys are supposed to cheer a 30 year old guy because he's sexy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he did cute little things like laying on the ropes in the corner and being an annoying little shit to his heel opponents but he wasn't really the cool, cocky guy any more, he was just being cute agitating like Woody Woody Pecker.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to believe so, but I'm not so sure. Keep in mind that Austin refused to work with him, and Austin was the main focus of the title picture for huge chunks of time from March 1998 to December 2001. I'm not sure when Owen would've retired, but it was generally thought that he had saved up his money and wouldn't have stuck with the company that much longer.
ReplyDeleteIf he stuck around past September 2002 when the titles were split he might have gotten a reign with those guys, but if he retired anytime before that I'm not so sure.
You know it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of foggy on the timeline to, I remember him saying he was surprised to find out his next program would be with Backlund, and later saying he had a feeling he'd be dropping the title to him, and then talking about when Vince told him officially he'd be dropping the title. Bret felt Backlund should get a longer reign before losing it to Diesel. I doubt they would have planned for Backlund to win the title all along until they saw how his heel turn started getting over.
ReplyDeleteNash getting the push might be what really motivated Shawn to start gunning for the main event. He always seemed to believe he'd get his chance one day but Nash coming in, at his request, being his buddy, learning from him and then making it to the top probably told Shawn he wasn't too far off himself.
ReplyDeleteI always found it interesting that Vince put all this marketing and power behind Diesel, only for him to walk away to WCW months after he lost the title to Bret.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the online feeling was the time was towards Nash/Shawn? Because I'm pretty sure if the small superior worker faced the chosen because of his size one at Wrestlemania these days we'd want the little guy going over.
ReplyDeleteI'm kind of glad we ddn't see him return as Papa Shango because I was a total mark for the Supreme Fighting Machine gimmick.
ReplyDeleteAnd since Shawn was older than the average wrestling fan, he wouldn't be our boytoy either.
ReplyDeleteMaking it worse was the fact he was accompanied by Lothario.
ReplyDeleteNot helping matters was the fact Shawn was booked strong leading up at WM11 with fairly clean wins over big guys. A big face fighting a s
ReplyDeleteYeah, he really didn't come off as the chicken-shit heel I think they saw him as. I know we were supposed to want to see Diesel beat the cocky asshole, but they had Shawn win the Rumble from #1, he beat some big guys clean going into Wrestlemania, and he was the guy who's been working his way up the ladder for 6 years against the big guy who's dominated....Shawn really came off as an underdog you wanted to rally behind.
ReplyDeleteI have no memory of anything Bob Backlund did in between his boring Mania IX loss to Razor Ramon and his match with Bret 15 months later.
ReplyDeleteNow Bob got that feud over but imagine if Vince put the Macho Man in that spot instead.
Can't upvote this enough.
ReplyDeleteSince Diesel's run as champion was disastrous, I sense Nash knew he wasn't going to be champion again and eventually be shunted down the card so a move to WCW was a wise decision on his part.
ReplyDeleteSince you mentioned that, I realize that if they had booked Bulldog to draw #1 in the Rumble and Shawn to draw #30 and have those guys be the last two in the ring, only for Shawn to eliminate Bulldog, that would have given Shawn some tremendous heel heat.
ReplyDelete